One streak ends, but another continues for Kings' Scrivens in 5-2 win over Bolts

L.A. Daily News | Nov 20

When the streak finally ended, when Valtteri Filppula of the Tampa Bay Lightning slammed the puck into the back of the net for a power-play goal late in the second period Tuesday night, Ben Scrivens and the Kings shrugged and went back to work.

There was no sense wondering what might have been.

Besides, the Kings’ goaltender and his teammates were well on their way to a comprehensive 5-2 victory over the Lightning at Staples Center. There was no sense worrying about what might have been after Scrivens’ shutout streak ended at a still-remarkable 191 minutes, 19 seconds.

Scrivens blanked the New York Islanders for the third period of the Kings’ victory Thursday, then recorded consecutive shutouts Friday over the New Jersey Devils and Sunday over the New York Rangers before facing the Eastern Conference-leading Lightning back home Tuesday.

Tampa Bay mustered only a handful of scoring chances before Filppula’s power-play goal cut the Kings’ lead to 4-1 at 16:17 of the middle period. In fact, the Lightning had only nine shots on Scrivens’ net through the game’s first 40 minutes.

In the end, losing the shutout streak was no big deal for Scrivens, who started his fourth consecutive game in place of injured No. 1 goalie Jonathan Quick and won his fourth in a row. Quick’s franchise record streak of 202:11 set in 2011-12 lived to see another day.

“I want to win more than I want shutouts,” Scrivens said. “I’m going to go out and play well and give the team a chance, go in and give these guys some solid play. That’s all they ever ask for. It’s great playing behind these guys. They clear the front of the net of rebounds. It’s a lot of fun.”

The Kings eased Scrivens’ burden by building a 2-0 lead on goals by Anze Kopitar and Matt Frattin (power play) by the end of the first period and extending it to 4-0 after goals from Justin Williams and Dwight King (shorthanded) in the second.